Navigation in the Suez Canal is still blocked amid the extremely complicated operation to unload the gigantic container ship that has blocked traffic on this key trade route between Europe and Asia since Wednesday.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA, Egyptian) announced that maritime traffic was "temporarily suspended" until the "Ever Given", the 400-meter-long ship that blocked the road, is unblocked.

The Dutch company Smit Salvage, which the company that operates the vessel, Evergreen Marine Corp, based in Taiwan, commissioned to unload the vessel, warned that the operation could take "days or even weeks."

However, Mohab Mamish, adviser to President Abdel Fatah al Sisi on port matters, later tried to send a reassuring message to AFP, assuring that

navigation would resume "in 48 or 72 hours at the most."

"I have experience in various salvage operations of this type and, as a former president of the Suez Canal Authority, I know every inch of the canal," added Mamish, who oversaw the recent widening of this highly frequented sea lane.

The 'Ever Given', of more than 220,000, after being stranded in the southern section blocking the passage.

Evergreen appointed teams of experts from the Dutch company Smit Salvage and the Japanese company Nippon Salvage, to implement "a more effective plan" to salvage the ship.

"It's really a very heavy whale on the beach, so to speak,"

said Peter Berdowski, CEO of Royal Boskalis.

According to an evolutionary map from the Vesselfinder site,

dozens of vessels wait at both ends of the canal and in the holding area in the middle of the canal

.

Faced with the uncertainty, the German group specialized in maritime logistics Hapag-Lloyd, several of whose ships were affected, informed its clients on Thursday that it was studying "possible diversions of ships towards the Cape of Good Hope", which would imply a detour of several thousand kilometers around the African continent.

For its part, the Danish Maersk, the world's largest shipowner, is examining

"all possible alternatives,"

explained a spokeswoman, who specified that "39 Maersk containers and two partner ships" awaited the reopening of the route.

Impact on the price of oil

The incident, which occurred on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, is causing significant delays in deliveries of oil and other commercial products and a rise in the price of crude.

If the situation continues for days, the impact would be greater and more lasting, according to Bjornar Tonhaugen, from the Rystad cabinet.

A crane works in the operation to de-ground the ship Ever Given.AP

"We've never seen anything like this before, but congestion ... will likely take several days or weeks to re-absorb as it would have a knock-on effect on other convoys, schedules and world markets," Ranjith estimates. Raja, who is responsible for research on Middle East oil and the sea at financial data aggregator Refinitiv.

The "Ever Given", a vessel of more than 220,000 tonnes bound for Rotterdam from Asia

, ran aground between the night of Tuesday and Wednesday and was blocked in the southern section of the Suez Canal.

Experts blame the strong winds for the incident that affected this 60-meter-high ship.

The SCA also speaks of

a sandstorm

, a common phenomenon in Egypt at this time of year, which reduced visibility and caused the vessel to drift.

"Extreme difficulty"

According to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the Singapore-based company that handles the ship's technical management, all

25 crew members are safe

.

There is no pollution or damage to the cargo of the ship, with a capacity for more than 20,000 containers.

The Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, owner of the gigantic ship, admitted Thursday that they are facing

enormous difficulties in getting the ship afloat

.

"In cooperation with local authorities and the Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement company we are trying to unravel it, but we are facing extreme difficulty," Shoei Kisen Kaisha said in a statement, offering "sincere apologies" for the traffic delays.

Maritime link between Europe and Asia, 10% of international trade passes through this route of navigation.

This route allowed the ships

not to have to go around the African continent

(for example 6,000 km less between Singapore and Rotterdam), but it has also suffered the consequences of several wars and years of inactivity.

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